The transit referendum in BC is making me very nervous. It shows just how easy it is to torpedo an idea with a bit of fear mongering. That's not to say that criticism of Translink is not valid...but to torpedo public transit in Vancouver over CEO salaries? It reminds me of how election reform was torpedoed...and the HST was torpedoed...basically, if you want a policy to not be enacted, put it to a public vote.

Most White teenagers don't tend to have guns... Most White teenagers as a rule don't go out and shoot people just to see how it feels like or for bragging rites or to pass initiation in a gang...! I don't believe I've ever heard any comments regarding black youths in Calgary/Canada...! These teenagers ARE in Calgary...! You want me to keep going cause I could...! And please spare me your terms of endearment...!

The Libs confirm that they will follow the Cons on anti-terror legislation. And we've totally misunderstood. We shouldn't worry about people
getting swept up in terror accusations if they're just "teens messing
around in the basement". In Steve's world, those fuckers belong in jail!:asked how to distinguish between teens messing around in their
basements and someone who is radicalized, Harper said it would be a
serious offence "no matter who you are." "It doesn't matter what the
age of the person is, or whether they're in a basement, or whether
they're in a mosque or somewhere else," Harper said Friday in Richmond Hill, Ont.

Copyright has been for life of author, plus 50 years. That's been
wholly and totally adequate. Except all the pouting entertainment
companies are demanding an extension to cover a handful of their
franchises. So now it's life + 70. Fuck these people. Why do we need
to keep changing laws to support their business model?

Fuck. Alberta. You don't want a sales tax. And corporate taxes are off the table. What are you going to do? I love it though. "If we
charge taxes to all of these oil companies, they'll take their business
elsewhere." Because oil is an incredibly mobile resource. I drink your
milkshake?

The Port Metro truck driver dispute is a total shitshow. Drivers strike
because they're paid shit and have to wait for hours and hours
(unpaid). Well fuck you then. We'll just create a new licensing system
that puts a whole bunch of you out of business. In the name of
"fairness".

Teens! Armed Robbery! Terrorism! This is why we should be afraid of
all these "you can't be a terrorist" laws. Seriously? A 15 year old
kid is going to rob a store and fly oversees to fight for ISIS? And he
should be punished extra because of it? Sorry. This is armed robbery,
not terrorism. Thankfully, we don't seem to really have a choice. The Libs have decided to join the Cons (maybe) and are supporting the legislation (I think). And it sounds like some of what is contained in the new "ANTI-TERROR!!!" bill sound like Steve wants our spy agencies to be like a meddling parent. Cancel plane reservations? Block financial transactions? Okay. I'm fine with that. But criminalizing language is all kinds of fucked up and extra-criminalizing people for an arbitrary "TERRORISM" target is unnerving. They know it when they see it, I guess.

This war on crime is fucking amazing! Crime is the lowest it has been
since 1969! All thanks to the Cons and their awesome policies! Woo
hoo! So...mandatory life in prison. Many people have pointed out that there are already mechanisms in place
to achieve this end - but that's never stopped the Cons from introducing
laws to make already illegal things super illegal. This time they're
proposing life in prison with no chance of parole.

Missed this from a few weeks ago. James Moore is threatening exploding
trains all over the place if we don't choose the correct false choice that he presents to us
"Yep. You can either have this clean, safe, responsible pipeline...or trains that explode all over the place. The choice is up to you."
"Oh boy. I don't want trains exploding all over the place. What was that other choice again?"

Monday, January 26, 2015

Can we kill this myth that Conservative governments are good financial managers? They didn't do well in the US. They haven't done well in Alberta. And all of Canada isn't looking so rosy. Cutting taxes to the detriment of society and the economy is not "sound financial management".

We'll expand on that by looking at oil revenue. You know who isn't having a bad time due to a decrease in oil revenue? Norway. Probably largely due to them taking 10 times what we do in royalties from their oil.

The attack on Trudeau for "the budget will balance itself" seems to have
gained traction. I can't find the full interview...but the full
sentence seems to be "the commitment needs to be a commitment to grow the economy and the budget will balance itself". So he seems to be
saying that if we have a great economy, we won't need to worry about
balancing the budget because we'll have enough revenue to fund the
programs that we enact. Seems unfair to not give it full context.

Canada Revenue has targeted another charity with beliefs that counter
what Conservatives believe: Dying with Dignity. They've lost their charitable tax status. CRA is basing this on mistakenly giving it to them in the first place in
1982.

The driving terrorist, who ran over a Canadian soldier in the fall, was known to police. They even tried to lock him up. More intrusive surveillance will not help. More resources might have. I'm not
certain the ability to lock people up for thought crime is the answer.